Kia ora, yes. We have been weary of allowing more platform for hateful views to be aired, which has already unfortunately happened. But I hear you and many others loud and clear and so will be clear myself......

I apologise for the harm that has been caused by the publication of an opinion piece that puts trans rights to exist up for debate. We are proactively and trying to address this as a priority. It is not good enough that it was published in the first place.

I want to emphasise my love, proactive support and committment to be the best ally I can to our trans whānau. I again acknowledge the trans community as being one of our most marginalised simply for existing. We need to do better and restore the imbalance caused by this harm.

Kia ora Marama, how did Jill Abigail's piece where she said, "Transpeople are a vulnerable group that until recently has been excluded from general consideration and now justly claim their right to be treated with equal respect" put trans rights to exist up for debate?

From a personal perspective, we in the progressive space are often overly harsh towards our representatives and public faces. This wasn't an article published by/with @MaramaDavidson, and publicly owning the issue is the first step of curing the disease.

I understand that, but for me it just reinforces the idea that the whole party mechanism is a place where these views are considered worth publishing. And the use of distorted stories about children and calling transwomen 'men' are just part of a debate. It's rancid.

So, are you saying that trans-women don't have the "primary problem is male violence" issue? That "young children being taught they can be in the ’wrong’ body"... Her entire opinion piece is a Gish Gallop of lies about gender dysphoria and transgender identity

Yep, which is why I got on Twitter and started raising holy hell. I would rather the Greens become better allies through this than burn them at the stake for not being pure enough at all levels. There will need to be actual accountability for this piece being published tho.

What's gutting? That men exist? I'll agree with you there (haha) but for real: Jill made it clear trans people exist and never put the existence of trans people up for debate in her article. She did critique sex self declaration policy (which guys like Jonathon Yaniv do abuse).

Oh cool, so because Jessica Yaniv is an abusive person, you choose to not only name drop them but also name drop their dead name as some kind of argument to deny the rights of every other trans person. Also, what about trans-men? Does Speak Up for Women speak up for them?

we are aware that our collective understanding of the realities for trans people is wanting, and that our process of an independent publication didn't provide a check. We have work to do for change and also restoration.

I'm not involved with Speak Up for Women at all, but in my personal capacity I've advocated for the rights and safety of trans men (search the Parliament website to see). Eg Sex self declaration policy puts all transmen prisoners at risk of being sent straight to male prisons.